INTRODUCTION: Tarantulas belonging to the Theraphosidae family are more and more popular as family pets. Ocular injuries caused by tarantulas are reported in several articles. We hereby report the first known case of ocular injury caused by a tarantula in China. CASE: A 22-year-old girl was referred to our hospital with one-week history of red and irritated left eye after she grabbed her molting Chilean Rose Tarantula. Her best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20 on both eyes...

Contact lens wear is one of the primary risk factors for the development of ocular surface inflammatory events. The purpose of this review is to examine and summarize existing knowledge on the mechanisms of contact lens related ocular surface inflammation and the evidence for the effectiveness of current objective methods to measure ocular surface inflammation. Contact lens wear is postulated to trigger an inflammatory response on the ocular surface due to mechanical, chemical, hypoxic stress, or by the introduction of microbes and their toxins...

BACKGROUND: Hyperkeratinization is a major cause of obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction (oMGD) and results in degenerative gland dilation and atrophy without inflammation. Ointment containing 1,25-dihydroxy-22-oxavitamin D3 (maxacalcitol), a noncalcemic analog of the active form of vitamin D3, is applied for the treatment of hyperkeratotic cutaneous conditions such as psoriasis and ichtyosis because it suppresses the proliferation and promotes the differentiation of keratinocytes through interaction with the vitamin D receptor...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an overview of conjunctival-limbal autografting (CLAU) for ocular surface rehabilitation with emphasis on more recent literature detailing outcomes of the procedure over the last 2 decades as well as technique variations and adjuvant techniques. RECENT FINDINGS: Limbal autografting initially described in 1964 by Barraquer and Strampelli and later popularized by Kenyon and Tseng is considered the best option for restoration of corneal phenotype in unilateral limbal stem-cell deficiency...

Purpose: Rosacea-related cutaneous inflammation is a common cause of ocular surface disease. Currently, there are no specific pharmacologic therapies to treat ocular rosacea. Here, we aimed at determining the differences in intracellular signaling activity in eyelid skin from patients with and without ocular rosacea. Methods: This was an observational, comparative case series including 21 patients undergoing lower lid ectropion surgery at one practice during 2013 and 2014 (18 patients with rosacea, 13 control patients), and 24 paraffin-embedded archival samples from Albany Medical Center, selected randomly (12 patients with rosacea, 12 control patients)...

BACKGROUND: Blepharokeratoconjunctivitis (BKC) is a type of inflammation of the surface of the eye and eyelids that involves changes of the eyelids, dysfunction of the meibomian glands, and inflammation of the conjunctiva and cornea. Chronic inflammation of the cornea can lead to scarring, vascularisation and opacity. BKC in children can cause significant symptoms including irritation, watering, photophobia and loss of vision from corneal opacity, refractive error or amblyopia.Treatment of BKC is directed towards modification of meibomian gland disease and the bacterial flora of lid margin and conjunctiva, and control of ocular surface inflammation...

This article determines the efficacy of endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (endoDCR) in patients who have undergone adjuvant external beam radiation therapy (XRT) following head and neck cancer resection. A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients who underwent endoDCR between 2006 and 2014 at a tertiary referral center. Cases were reviewed and selected for the following inclusion criteria: history of adjuvant sinonasal XRT following head and neck cancer resection, preoperative probing and irrigation demonstrating nasolacrimal duct obstruction (NLDO), postoperative probing and irrigation following silicone tube extubation...

BACKGROUND: A hordeolum is a common, painful inflammation of the eyelid margin that is usually caused by a bacterial infection. The infection affects oil glands of the eyelid and can be either internal or external. In many cases, the lesion drains spontaneously and resolves without treatment; however, the inflammation can spread to other ocular glands or tissues, and recurrences are common. If unresolved, an acute internal hordeolum can become chronic, or can develop into a chalazion...

For many years, blepharitis and dry eye disease have been thought to be two distinct diseases, and evaporative dry eye distinct from aqueous insufficiency. In this treatise, we propose a new way of looking at dry eye, both evaporative and insufficiency, as the natural sequelae of decades of chronic blepharitis. Dry eye is simply the late form and late manifestation of one disease, blepharitis. We suggest the use of a new term in describing this one chronic disease, namely dry eye blepharitis syndrome (DEBS)...

INTRODUCTION: Vernal keratoconjunctivis (VKC) is a severe form of pediatric ocular allergy, characterized by acute and chronic corneoconjunctival inflammation that may lead to visual sequelae. Although topical immunosuppressive drugs such as cyclosporine are usually effective, some severe forms may be refractory and require prolonged steroid therapy. Very few papers report the use of omalizumab in VKC in the literature. In the present study, we describe our clinical experience with omalizumab in severe VKC children...

Neuroinflammation is associated with l-DOPA treatment in Parkinson's disease (PD), suggesting a role in l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID), however it is unclear whether increased inflammation is specifically related to the dyskinetic outcome of l-DOPA treatment. Diversely from oral l-DOPA, continuous intrajejunal l-DOPA infusion is associated with very low dyskinetic outcome in PD patients. We reproduced these regimens of administration in 6-OHDA-lesioned hemiparkinsonian rats, where dyskinetic responses and striatal neuroinflammation induced by chronic pulsatile (DOPAp) or continuous (DOPAc) l-DOPA were compared...

PURPOSE: To determine the effects of clinical variables, including age, sex, history of refractive or cataract surgery, contact lens use, and ocular surface and meibomian gland parameters on the lipid layer thickness (LLT) in normal subjects and patients with dry eye syndrome (DES). METHODS: A total of 64 normal subjects and 326 patients with DES were enrolled, and they underwent measurements of LLT with a LipiView interferometer and tear meniscus height using optical coherence tomography, tear film break-up time (TBUT) determination, ocular surface staining, Schirmer's test, examination of the lid margins and meibomian glands, and assessment using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI)...

Ocular complications occur after transplantation in 60% to 90% of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) patients and significantly impair vision-related quality of life. Ocular surface inflammation and dry eye disease are the most common manifestations of ocular GVHD. Ocular GVHD can be viewed as an excellent preclinical model that can be studied to understand the immune pathogenesis of this common and debilitating disease. A limitation of this is that only a few experimental models mimic the ocular complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and have focused on the acute GVHD process...

Dry eye syndromes can involve both nociceptive and neuropathic symptoms. Nociceptive symptoms are the normal physiological responses to noxious stimuli. Neuropathic symptoms are caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and can be the result of hypersensitisation of peripheral or central corneal and conjunctival somatosensory nerves. For example, inflammation could induce neuroplastic peripheral sensitisation of the ocular surface or lid wiper and exacerbate nociceptive symptoms. Neuropathic symptoms may explain the incommensurate relation between signs and symptoms in some dry eye syndromes although absence of signs of a dry eye syndrome may also be a consequence of inappropriate methods used when examining for them...

The lacrimal gland is located in the upper temporal compartment of the orbita, and along with the ocular surface, eye lids, and sensory and motor nerves forms the lacrimal functional unit (LFU). The LFU is responsible for producing, distributing, and maintaining the tear film in order to maintain a smooth, moist, and regular ocular surface epithelium such that appropriate refractive properties are achieved and the eyeball is protected against dust, debris, and pathogens. If the main lacrimal gland is impaired (due to either disease or injury), this balance is disrupted, and severe quantitative dry eye syndrome (DES) can develop...

Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a chronic allergic inflammation of ocular surface involving the tarsal and/or bulbar conjunctiva. Signs of VKC are confined to the conjunctiva and cornea. The skin of the lid remains uninvolved. Here we report a case of 17 year-old male suffering from VKC who develops vitiligo of lid skin and lash poliosis. All ocular and systemic causes of localized skin and lash depigmentation were excluded in our patient by thorough clinical examination and investigations. During regular follow-up for two-year patient did not develop any ocular and systemic illness presenting as vitiligo and poliosis...

BACKGROUND: Blepharokeratoconjunctivitis (BKC) is a type of inflammation of the surface of the eye and eyelids which can affect children and adults. BKC involves changes of the eyelids, dysfunction of the meibomian glands, and inflammation of the conjunctiva and cornea. Chronic inflammation of the cornea can lead to scarring, vascularisation and opacity. BKC in children can cause significant symptoms which include irritation, watering, photophobia and loss of vision. Loss of vision in children with BKC may be due to corneal opacity, refractive error or amblyopia...